Specialized Tarmac SL7 Comp Rival eTap AXS Performance Road Bike (Limited Sizes)

In second defence to "mildly" expensive bikes: most people that are into sports & gyms/yoga/pilates etc, are also "hooked"...memberships, exersize equipment, specific clothing, shoes, supplements, etc.

It is not atypical for memberships that involve some limited to advanced interaction with professional trainers, pilates, yoga, cycling studios and the such, to be $200 a month, and going double that...a month, before again the aux. espenses for the parafinelia.

So buying a $1200-1500 bike and "dropping out" after 6mo of on-n-off riding, is not that dissimilar with the people who sign up only to drop from all these memberships with nearly nothing to "show for"...it is fine, it is normal.

Going a level up in bikes, again $2000, 3000, even $4000+ etc...you keep it for a couple of years, that's it, same as maintaining a sligtly more expensive gym/pilates/yoga etc membership.

I am not completely dissingaged, I know some ppl hurt and listen to $100/mo memberships and "cry" inside...I get it, some people got a better hand in life (lets face it, not all of us "just work harder", many work pretty hard or harder than "us" and sunny days are few and apart for them)...for all of you: bikes are luxury items. You can get all the exersise you need with any bike...even $150 ones for Walmart and whatnot...and the bike is not "really" the exersise, it is the motivation to get off your butt in the beginning and maybe eat a bit healthier...NO-ONE CAN MEANINGFULLY OUTRUN OR OUT-PEDAL/KICK/LIFT/SHRED bad eating habbits...doesn't happen. I bet that most of ppl reading this would SUFFER to do a 800 cal workout...say a decently fast 10mi+1000 ft climb bike ride would be that...aka a "frapuchinno" will give that back...or a greasy burger with fries more than...

We lose weight because we eat less. PERIOD. Yes, some have f-ed up chemistry in them and gain weight differently/its harder to eat less, but...at the end of the day to lose weight, you need to eat less, and eat sh!t that are easy for your body to break down...not M&D.
This doesn't mean that you need to mimic top athletes or filtered "infuencers" to be healthy and whatnot...regardless of your target weight, nutricion > exercise - even if you bulk up to be hulk...

Having an expensive/better bike is there to spoil/reward yourself. Yes, before you get to $1200-1500 level, there might be legitimate safety issues if you start getting REALLY fast or "shred", i.e. sending big jumps on MTB or doing 50mph (or even 30mph) down a hill on your road bike: I would want to know that my wheels and brakes and "everything" can take this kind of "abuse" over and over reliably. And this is not something I would think is reasonable out of a "cheap" bike, which I would gladly ride around beach and city paths, run errands, etc...

This is also my criticism on ppl flocking around cheap eBikes, especially the class 2/3 ones with throttles that allow for 20+ mph rides "easily"...these are the avg speeds you move with a motorcycle or car in traffic (here in SoCal I average like 27mph over the life of my current commuter cars, and that includes the rare trip out of town...). Betting your life on $5 tires and stamped steel brakes etc on a motorised $150 bottom of the barrel bike that you could barely stroll around at 12mph, but now does 25+ w/o breaking a sweat is not wise. Does it mean $90 tires for road bikes are a "must have" and what not? No...moderation is needed: we don't need race tires on our bikes, just like we don't need R-compound "street-legal CUP" tires on our cars...but some are bitten by the bug and do want them...cool beans